the duchess will see you now

Day 3

Ride Hopper:
“Uh, could you give me a lift to the next grass station?”

We’ve traveled 1,199.1 miles to date. Yesterday my car reached 70,000 miles. (I heard a rumor through Stephanie that some people don’t think I’m doing ALL the driving. I assure all you doubters that I am the ONLY one behind the wheel on this trip!) Nebraska is cool, humid, and overcast this morning. It’s great for traveling. No sun in my eyes. No intense ‘greenhouse’ effect heat burning me through the windshield. Moon roof open without the A/C on. My friend Tracey emailed me and sent her regards that I had to drive through this state, which was her least favorite when she went cross-country. I kinda like it. We saw lots and lots that was pretty to look at. Like this:

The further west we traveled, the lush farmland gave way to more arid conditions and dusty little western towns. But before we got out of the corn and hay fields, I was forced to water the roadside grass myself. Luckily I was wearing a vintage sundress passed down to me from my mother that made it easy as pie. I drove away with complete understanding for the difference in men’s and women’s fashions.

Driving in western Nebraska:

One of my favorite things in Nebraska was stopping in this little dried up town called Mitchell. It is the epitome of an old western town. Notice the sign tacked on to the back side of the church!

We were on our way to Scott’s Bluff, Nebraska where my mom went to college her freshman year. We made a little detour first, to a town called Alliance. There was something there that I’d read about and I just had to see it. Alliance is about an hour out of the way for us, but the drive was worth it. If we hadn’t gone, we’d have never seen this:

And, as it turned out by the end of the day, I’d found a couple of things along the way for some of my friends, as well. Like this, for my peeps back at the Fish Market: